Amit Shah’s name does not figure in Ishrat encounter charge sheet

February 7, 2014 11:10 am

Agencies, Ahmedabad
Much to the relief of Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the name of one of his close confidant and former home minister Amit Shah does not figure in the supplementary charge sheet filed in a special CBI court by the CBI today in connection with the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case of 2004.

In the 1,500-page supplementary charge sheet filed in the court of special CBI Judge H S Khutvad this afternoon, the names of four senior Intelligence Bureau (IB) officers, including the then special director of IB in Gujarat Rajendra Kumar, has been mentioned. Other three IB officials are Rajiv Vankhede, Tarun Mittal and M K Sinha.

The CBI has registered charges against Rajendra Kumar under section 302 of the Indian Police Code.

The probe agency has not found any evidence against Shah. The agency has also added a charge of fabricating evidence against former police officer J G Parmar.

It has also registered charges against some junior IB officials under the Arms Act for illegally providing weapons to the police. The supplementary charge sheet was filed by senior CBI officials led by G Kalaimony and was represented by its lawyer Ajaj Khan.

The court will hold further hearing on the charge sheet tomorrow.

The CBI, probing the encounter case in which Mumbai college girl Ishrat JAhan and three others were gunned down by Gujarat Police on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004, had filed first charge sheet against eight police officials on July 3 last year. At that time too, the CBI had not named Narendra Modi or Amit Shah in the charge sheet.

In the first charge sheet, the CBI had termed the encounter as a joint operation between the IB and the Gujarat Police. In its chargesheet, it had said that the FIR in the encounter case was drafted prior to the encounter on June 15, 2004 by the then DIG D G Vanzara and others. It has also said a meeting was held between Vanzara, additional DGP P P Pandey and the then special director of IB in Gujarat Rajendra Kumar at the residence of Vanzara on June 14, a day before the encounter and planned out the encounter.

The first charge sheet contained 2000-pages which had several documents, including the statements of the witnesses, forensic and other reports and a narration of the event. The supplementary charge sheet contains around 1,500 pages.

The CBI has recorded the statements of as many as 308 witnesses in the case. Eight police officials whose names figure in the first charge sheet include additional DGP P P Pandey, senior IPS officer G L Singhal, N K Amin, Tarun Barot, D G Vanzara, PI J G Parmar, commando Anaju Chaudhari and Mohan Kalasava. Kalasava has died during the investigation.